Well, this may help others, so I am going to show what I did and tell how it should have been done.

I cut all the wires from the dash harness at the fuse box. You ought to be able to not have to do that, and I will tell how. I couldn't have figured this out without having the fuse box out of the car though.

The first picture shows the fuse box as it is assembled while in the correct location after removing the engine compartment housing, but obviously it won't have the wires cut.

The green connector has almost all of the dash harness wires attached. This is held on to the fuse box by that bolt that you have to loosen to remove the engine harness. This bolt itself is held on by a snap washer. See picture 2. (if I get them in the right order). IF you can remove that washer while the fuse box is still under the dash, the connector slides right off. I am not sure if I could have done this even if I knew about it. I don't bend and reach like I used to.

Once that connector is removed, you will have only the wires going to the fuse box fuses and buss. This leaves about a dozen wires that you will either have to cut, or possibly you could remove the fuse holders from the box to remove the fuse box.

Hope this might help someone from doing what I did. My original way is fixable, but will be a bit of a pain having to splice and solder all those wires.

Oh, I guess I had better apologize to the Ford Engineers. They did use a connector. Just made it very hard to deal with. Although really it isn't meant to be used that way. The manual states that you cannot remove the fuse box without removing the dash harness. Russ

I was able to get a fair amount done, but I ran out of butt connectors. And yes, that is the proper name. I ordered some more tonight, but won't get them until next week sometime. So I will have to work on other stuff until then. I have plenty of projects to do on this car, even with no money to spend. Once I get the new fuse box, I can find a home for it and start working on wiring it. Although I just realized that I will need to buy terminals for it. sigh. Well, I can at least do a rough layout. Money is going to be tight for the rest of this month.

I am crimping, then soldering, then heat shrinking. When all connections are completed and test good then I will re-wrap the harness. These connections should never fail.

So far I have only had to cut and redo one because I forgot to put the heat shrink on before crimping the second half of the wire. I did put connectors on the wrong wires though. Wrong as in they don't go to the green connector. I started crimping them on before grabbing that connector and double checking. I had meant to do as many on the green connector as possible. I had 20 connectors, and there were about 22 wires. Another sigh.

I am using a Kline crimper. It is so nice to use the proper tool for once. The combo stripper/crimpers you find at Walmart and the parts stores are garbage. They are fair for stripping when new, but I'd never use one again for crimping after using this Kline tool. I also have a Kline stripper, but it is really an electrician's tool, only has 12 and 14 gauge strip settings, the rest are for house wiring/romex. Somewhere I am pretty sure I have a regular style Kline stripper, but we still aren't completely unpacked yet. I am still hunting for tools.

Oh, almost forgot the best part. The steering column shaft works perfectly as a solder roll holder.

Just found out that there is a Pullapart in Tucson. I like them. Decent prices. Went to one in the Akron area a few times.The Pickaparts here in Phoenix don't list the prices. And they charge you for each bit of an assembly. Pullapart has prices for the whole thing, like a rear end drum to drum. complete engine with accessories. Etc. Going to have to do a road trip down there when I get some spending money. Russ

Guess what I started working on tonight? This is the battery box/relocation kit I have. I bought it for the Lemans on clearance a couple of years ago for like $80 or so.Maybe I should sell it? http://www.amazon.com/Lakewood-30301-Battery-Relocation-Mustang/dp/B0048C8KXKLook at that price, holy cow. Apparently Summit doesn't even carry these now. Guess I got a better deal than I had thought for once. Yay me.

The instructions aren't so hot. They focus on the engine compartment side of things, and pretty much just say to bolt the box where you want it to go. Good thing I am not a complete moron yet. Working on that, but haven't made it all the way to complete yet. Russ

Fuse box came today. It is lighter than I had thought it would be. Double checked on the Bussmann site, it is rated for 30amps on each circuit. So that will be plenty. And it is a 12 circuit box, the Pinto has what, 6 or 7? So there is room for me to add some circuits.

I am thinking about mounting it in the glove box. Would be very easy to get to, and not very difficult to run the wires to the original harness. Just will make behind the dash a bit more full. I want to mount it on the glove box door, but I haven't checked yet to see if it will fit. If not then I will do it in the box, will have to see. It's way too hot out for me until the sun goes down. That is when I do things outside.

I have the battery box mounted (more or less) where it is going. I had to go buy some bolts to mount it, the hardware that came with it wasn't long enough since I don't have it on a flat surface. And of course I went a little short on the length of the bolts. Need a couple of 1.5 inchers. But it will be much more solid than what the instructions I found online showed how to do it. Oh, and before any says anything, the box is NHRA legal for no divider between it and the passenger compartment.

I will be keeping the metal part of the fold down seat. It will be the lid for the new battery compartment and the storage area on the other side. I have already figured out how to raise it up so it sits above the battery box. Just another thing that will have to wait until I get some spending money is all. It should look just like the fold down seat is folded. From outside no-one will be able to tell any difference, I hope. Well, you guys probably would be able to.

I also got the engine compartment harness unwrapped. I really wish I didn't need to do that, but I have to move some wires from the passenger side to the driver's side, namely the passenger headlight. I am going to be using relays, already got them (part of the Leman's leftovers), and if I didn't move the wires it would take 4 relays instead of just 2. It'll look cleaner once I am done. Going to route all the passenger side light wires from the driver's side, and run them along the top of the radiator support like most cars I have worked on have been run. Or, I could be really different and run them all on the passenger side. But since they come out of the firewall on the driver's side I think I will stick with that.

The starter solenoid is attached to the battery box, I don't want a large live cable running from where the battery will be up front. Means I am going to have to extend the wires that go to the solenoid, but that isn't a biggie.

Still thinking about where to mount the new fuse box. My brain isn't doing too well. I hadn't thought that mounting it on the glove box door would require sheet metal screws, or else having bolts sticking out the front of the door. I might use a piece of sheet metal and mount it inside the glove box area, removing the glove box itself.

This new Bussmann box is small enough to fit in the engine compartment, but it isn't the type for that really. Besides, I really want it out of sight. If I do put it in the glove box on a panel, I will likely put a battery kill switch on that panel as a theft deterrent. IF I route the cable so that I could do that. I have plenty of cable, I forgot I actually have 2 trunk mount kits, the second one is one of the cheaper ones with the plastic marine style box. But it came with lots of cable.

Well, I put the rear seat up on craigslist. I also put the radiator and electric fan on there. I really hate doing that, but they won't fit, and I could use the money. The butt connectors I ordered haven't arrived yet, so it will be at least tomorrow before I get the harness stuff done. Once I get that done and the fuse box mounted and wired I need to come up with a cheap battery so I can test it all out. Won't be buying a brand new one, since it could be a year before the car is ready for one.

I have some electrical stuff I can mount tonight. No more working under the dash for a while though. My back has been hurting. Need to go slow on this, I am not 25 anymore. Hell, not 35, or 45. Will be 55 in about 3 weeks.

Believe it or not I just got rained out working on the Pinto. Wish I had the connectors, it would be a great night to work inside the car. I was trying to mount something on the firewall, started getting wet and decided it wasn't a good time to be using an electric drill. I might try again in a bit, these things usually go away fast, but much later and I won't be able to make that much noise. Plus I can't find the rest of my drill bits. The box I have isn't complete, and of course what it has is either too small or too big for what I needed. The area I have the tools in is an enclosed carport with no ventilation unless the patio door is open, and honestly feels like a sauna. It is much hotter in there than outside, which being in Phoenix means it is really bad. So long story short (too late! ) I don't stay in there any longer than absolutely needed. It needs screens, but seeing as how the landlord just spent $4K on the new AC, I am not going to bring it up, even if he is my brother.

Well, I think the worst of it missed us. At least it didn't sound like it was bad, and the dogs didn't go hyper.

Maybe a good thing I stayed inside though. I ended up reading all of the instructions for all the stuff I bought 3 years ago from MadElectrical. A bunch of stuff I had forgotten about as far as properly doing all this stuff. I am really hoping that I can have pretty much all of the car's electrical done by this weekend. Tested will be another matter, can't do that until I can come up with a battery. And unless I find one on the side of the road it is going to be a while before I can afford even a cheap used one. the Pinto budget went from zero to absolutely not a penny no way no how until I get a job. I might try the battery charger I have, but I think it is new enough to sense that there isn't something to charge and shut down. The really fun thing will be that I don't know if the stuff worked in the first place. And I definitely won't be able to see if the charging system works without a running engine. I'm going to be changing to the GM CS style of alternator as well, at some point before the car is ready for the road. Might as well since I bought the wiring kit to convert to that along with the other stuff.

I am not sure what to do about the dash. The instrument cluster housing is so bad it falls apart when the wind blows on it. I'd like to do a custom gauge setup, but I can't afford to do that this time. I had all new gauges for the Lemans, speed, tach, gas, oil, water, volt, everything, but sold them with the car. This housing is so bad the mounting points have broken off, and I can't think of a way to attach anything to it that wouldn't cause more damage. Will have to see if I can remove the housing and come up with some sort of panel or to attach it to the dash. I can see it now. "Office, seriously now. How fast could I have been going in a little four banger old Pinto?"

Two nights in a row of not really being able to work on the Pinto. Getting edgy already.

Thanks a whole frigging lot, Ford! Who'd have thought that they don't put the wiring diagrams in the frigging factory service manual?!!! I don't have $20 or more to go buy a wiring diagram that should have been in the manual.Sometimes I wonder why I bother with these stupid Ford products.Russ

I've found plenty of them for sale. I really thought they would have been included in the manual. Heck, seems like even all the Chilton's back in the 70's included them, but not anymore. At least for the cars my friends and I were dealing with back then. This is going to delay me quite a bit on the electrical side. Good thing I have no deadlines. Oh, well. It is always something going wrong. Thanks,Russ

Well, even with the stupid diagram issue I got quite a bit done tonight. Would have gotten quite a bit more done if I hadn't of spent an hour or two online trying to find one for free. I will have to take some pictures tomorrow.

Got relays installed for the headlights, still need to route the output power from the relays to the lights. I need to get heavy duty headlight connectors, so that will have to wait anyway.

Got the engine compartment harness back on the car, with a lot of it missing. Intentionally, that is. Will be using an internally requlated alternator, so no more need for the voltage regulator. Also no need for the old alternator wiring. Redid all of that already, just need the new alternator to connect it to.

Got a relay set up for the horn, since I am using a non stock type. Course it would be a big help if I knew which wire was FOR the horn, but I guess that will have to wait, along with the rest of the wires that I need the stupid diagram for. The Pinto is a pretty short car, but it is still too long to ohm out the wires from under the dash by myself.

Still haven't received the butt connectors I need to finish the under dash harness re assembly. Hopefully later today. I have a few leftover terminal connectors from the relay kits that I can use to connect the new fuse box, but not enough. So that will be another lengthy delay until I can get those. Not working sucks.

Why after hanging on to it for 3 years of no Pinto did I donate my Clymer's manual to a church rummage sale just before we moved back here? I did find an online pdf of the 76 wiring diagram. I am hoping it is the same in the areas I am concerned with right now. And to make matters worse, I just went to print it out and our printer ran out of ink.

It just keeps getting more and more fun to be me. Next thing you know I will run out of my antidepressant s. I don't know why I haven't yet, but when that happens it will be really bad. And just fyi, if I sold the Pinto for what I bought it for, that wouldn't even be one month's worth. Not to mention the 2 diabetes meds I am supposed to be injecting myself with, combined, those 3 alone are over $2000 a month without insurance. Gee, why am I not on those again? Russedited on Wed 16July. ah, oops. I just noticed that my cat decided to help me post when I did this yesterday.

Got quite a bit done today. Not sure if I am done for the night or not, but I needed a break for sure. Been using muscles I haven't used in about two years or so.

I got the majority of the engine harness pretty much done. I still need to extend the wires for the passenger side front lights. I have the harness routed the way it will go when I am finished. And I got my horn mounted. Once I get everything finished routed and connected I am going to wrap the harness in that stuff that is like the original factory harness wrap. It is fairly cheap on ebay, just not sure if it is as good as the original. But that is a bit away yet.

If I do any more tonight, it will most likely be inside the car. I have a few butt connectors and a few terminals for the fuse block, but not enough of either to finish.

These first pictures are not for the wiring squeamish.

I will post all the ones I have from tonight in the next couple of posts.

And the last, at least for now.I haven't really done much yet with the wiring for the front lights. I re-did the ground for the driver's side, that's about it. There is one wire for that side's directional light that I need to extend, guess the way I am routing things is a longer route than original. Or I just flat screwed something up. But no biggie.

I am waiting yet to do these, for some reason I am not feeling like this is the time. Probably since I had to cut the passenger side some just to get the light assemblies off. Thinking once I get the new headlight bulb connectors (and headlights) I will just do it all at once.

Oh, I almost forgot. Seeing the last picture reminded me. I am going to route the passenger side part of the harness across the front of the radiator, along that panel that bolts on from side to side. Splash panel? My brain hurts. I've had cars that have done it that way, and it will be shorter and easier to wire up.

Oh. I had a thought that might be of interest to anyone doing the GM HEI module with the Duraspark.Our voltage regulators have 4 connectors on them, and they are easy to get to from the back of the regulator. If you wanted to, you could put the hei module (also 4 connections) in the voltage regulator (assuming it fits, I don't have one to try), and use the stock Pinto regulator connector to connect to the distributor/power. I thought about doing it, but I think the Duraspark module's case is a better heat sink. Nice big chunk of aluminum versus a small and thin piece of tin(or whatever it is made of).It would involve a bit of soldering, but from outside it would look just like a stock regulator. This is assuming you don't need the regulator to regulate.

Thanks, Dwayne.Getting there with what I have.Sometimes working on this lets me forget about the financial/job stuff, and sometimes it really rubs that stuff right in my face. Today has been both. One of the compromises I have to make for now is using very cheap hardware to bolt things on for running the harness. Once I have some money I intend to replace it all with decent stuff. But for now it is the cheap garbage or don't do anything. I won't cheap out on stuff like wire though. Just stuff easily replaced later on.

I went back out and got some more done. I finished reconnecting all the wires to the green fuse box connector that I had cut. I still have the wires that went to the fuse box, and some I am not sure of where they go to yet to do. I need to decide on the new fuse box location before I do those fuse wires at least. Otherwise I can promise that they will end up either too long or too short.

And I forgot, I don't want to mislead anyone on the engine compartment harness. I haven't done the starter solenoid, coil, or distributor wires yet. I am hoping to be able to get a newer reduction starter, better coil, and the GM HEI module, so all that will wait until I am sure about it one way or the other. I REALLY don't want to have to re-do any of this later on.

And I have one wire that isn't on the wrong year (76 wiring diagram that I found online) that concerns me. It goes to the green connector, is itself a very dark green, and is a single strand conductor that is apparently stainless steel. At least it couldn't be soldered. I am going to try to track down where it goes in the engine compartment. Problem is even before I started working on that harness, most of what the wiring went to wasn't there. Hopefully it will be so obvious even I can figure it out. Maybe it would be on a 73 or earlier car also.

My wife is going to kill me, and I wouldn't blame her. I just spent almost $22 for a wiring diagram for this thing, including priority mail shipping. I was looking at the original fuse box and noticed that it is a split buss type, meaning two different sources of power, divided between upper and lower fuses. It has gotten to the point where I can't go on with the wiring without being absolutely sure what I am doing. And I have found that while close, other years diagrams that I have found for free online just won't do it.I don't think she will like the "it's an early birthday present" explanation. I must be an idiot. Russ

Thanks. I will be happier when I get it all tested and wrapped (literally) up.

I should have waited for the diagram, but I get too wrapped up in what I am doing and need to keep going while I have the enrgy/drive. If I let it go for a couple of weeks it might not get done until much later. I might have to ask my mom for my birthday present early to cover this. Now I just hope the thing gets here soon so I can use it. Unlike the connectors I had ordered, still haven't gotten them.

Well, considering I wasn't going to do anything tonight, I got a fair amount done. No pictures. What I did isn't really obvious.

I went ahead and ran the power wires for the high beams. Started on the low beams, but I need to buysome more pieces. Finally running out of what I had for the Lemans. Couldn't really decide on how to splice the wires for the headlights coming off the relays, so I came up with a way where I don't have too. I am using another one of the bulkhead terminals, like what is on the fenderwell and on the firewall. I ran the power out from the relay to it, and then ran two wires from it, one for each headlight. Problem is I only had three, and now I need a fourth for the low beams. Easy to get, just takes money.

I also fixed the directionals and the side markers.But I might have a problem with the markers. The wire for the passenger side is not in good shape. Something has either corroded it or contaminated it. I cut as far into the harness as I could for now, and it is that way all the way. Some strand nice and shiny, and some black as night. I might have to replace the whole thing. This is the brown wire that comes from the under dash connector at least and then splits for the driver's and passenger's sides. I didn't get to where it splits, I didn't want to open that can of worms right now. But odds are I will be doing that eventually. If I am really lucky, it is just this one side and the bad stops at that splice.

Oh, and I got the horn wired up completely. Wish I had a battery, hearing that go at 2am would be funny. To me at least, probably not the wife or the neighbors.

Speaking of neighbors, it felt like we were under attack tonight. Two very loud booms about a half hour apart. Both of them set off the alarm on a neighbor's car. I told the wife it was probably just kids with M80's, but the booms were really much bigger than that. Didn't want to worry her. The second one I saw a reflected flash from. But this is one of those things I will probably never find out what it really was. Could have been transformers going, but if so it was not ours.